Last Letters
Page 45
Rehrl, Franz (1890–1947): Politician in Austria’s Christian Social Party; governor of Salzburg until 1938; contact with Helmuth James by way of Augustin Rösch; was envisioned as a political delegate for the Salzburg military district; incarcerated in the Lehrter Strasse Gestapo prison until the end of the war
Reichwein, Adolf (1898–1944): Professor of history and civics in Halle/Saale; dismissed in 1933; teacher at a rural school in Tiefensee, outside of Berlin; educator at the Berlin Museum for German Ethnology; Social Democratic member of the Kreisau Circle; arrested after meeting with the communists Anton Saefkow and Bernhard Bästlein in June 1944; executed on October 20, 1944, along with Julius Leber and Hermann Maass
Reichwein, Rosemarie: “Romai” (née Pallat, 1904–2002): Married Adolf Reichwein in 1933; mother of Renate, Roland, Katrin, and Sabine Reichwein; living in Kreisau from 1943
Reisert, Franz (1889–1965): Attorney in Augsburg; contact with the circle around Franz Sperr and with Helmuth James by way of Augustin Rösch and Alfred Delp; sentenced to five years in prison
Reisert, Frau: Wife of Franz Reisert; in contact with Freya in Berlin Rittberg, Hans-Heini Graf von: Lieutenant colonel; cousin of Helmuth James
Rittberg, Karin Gräfin von: Wife of Hans-Heini Graf von Rittberg
Romai: See Reichwein, Rosemarie
Rösch, Augustin (1893–1961): Jesuit priest from Munich and Provincial Superior of the upper German province of the order; in contact with Helmuth James since October 1941; sent two Jesuits to participate in the Kreisau Circle, Alfred Delp and Lothar König; went into hiding after July 20, 1944, but was captured on January 11, 1945, and held in the Lehrter Strasse Gestapo prison; released on April 25, 1945
Rose Innes, Lady Jessie: “Granny” (1860–1943): Grandmother of Helmuth James
Rose Innes, Sir James: “Daddy” (1855–1942): Grandfather of Helmuth James; South African jurist and politician; chief justice in the Union of South Africa
Rosenstock-Huessy, Eugen (1888–1973): Legal historian; sociologist; 1928 co-initiator of the voluntary work camp in Löwenberg Silesia, in which Helmuth James, Carl Dietrich von Trotha, Adolf Reichwein, and other later members of the Kreisau Circle participated; immigrated to the United States in 1933; from 1936 to 1957, professor of social philosophy at Dartmouth College; after the death of his wife, Margrit, Freya moved to his home in Norwich, Vermont, in 1960.
Sack, Karl (1896–1945): Jurist in military jurisdiction; 1942 judge advocate general of the army; contacts with the military and civil resistance; interlocutor of Helmuth James; arrested on August 9, 1944, and executed on April 9, 1945
Schanda, Maria: (1910–?): Real name Maria Seiffert; actress; friend from the Schwarzwald Circle
Schellhase, Anneliese: Singer; fiancée of Theodor Haubach, whom she visited in prison and helped to prepare his defense; in frequent contact with Freya
Schlitter, Oskar Herrmann: German diplomat
Scholl, Hans (1918–1943): Active member of the Weisse Rose student resistance movement in Munich
Scholl, Sophie (1921–1943): Active member of the Weisse Rose student resistance movement in Munich
Scholz-Babisch, Friedrich (1890–1944): Cavalry captain; Silesian farmer; in the circle of Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg; executed on October 13, 1944
Schulenburg, Fritz-Dietlof Graf von der: “Fritzi” (1902–1944): At first a confirmed National Socialist, then outspoken opponent of Hitler; contacts with the military and civil resistance movement; interlocutor of Helmuth James; arrested on July 20, 1944, in the Bendlerblock building complex and executed on August 10, 1944
Schulze, Kurt: District court director; served as the deputy of the chief Reich prosecutor at the trial of Helmuth James
Schwarzwald, Eugenie (née Nussbaum, 1872–1940): Austrian educator and social reformer; met Freya and Helmuth James in 1929 at Seeblick, her summer villa on the Austrian Grundlsee
Schwerin von Schwanenfeld, Ulrich Wilhelm Graf (1902–1944): Estate owner; in close contact with Peter Graf Yorck von Wartenburg and the international bureau of the Abwehr in the Armed Forces High Command; arrested on July 20, 1944, in the Bendler-block; briefly incarcerated in the Ravensbrück cell block; executed on August 21, 1944
Sister Ida: See Hübner, Ida
Solf, Johanna (1887–1954): Wife of Wilhelm Solf, state secretary in the foreign office who died in 1936; invited women and men critical of the system to the Solf Circle, a “tea party” for discussions that were leaked to the Gestapo; arrested but survived
Sperr, Franz (1878–1945): Jurist; until 1934 Bavarian envoy to the Reich; enabled through the Munich Jesuits to stay in contact with Helmuth James; sentenced to death on January 10, 1945; executed on January 23, 1945, along with Helmuth James
Stauffenberg, Claus Schenk Graf von (1907–1944): Main figure in the assassination-minded military resistance movement along with Henning von Tresckow, Friedrich Olbricht, and Fritz-Dietlof Graf von der Schulenburg; in close contact with his cousin Peter Graf Yorck von Wartenburg; shot to death on July 20, 1944, after the failed assassination attempt
Steengracht von Moyland, Gustav Adolf Baron (1902–1969): Member of the Nazi Party beginning in 1933; worked with foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop; as of March 1943 secretary of state in the Reich Foreign Ministry
Steengracht von Moyland, Illemie Baronin: Friend of the Deichmanns and Moltkes; anti-Nazi, but married to Gustav Adolf Baron Steen-gracht von Moyland; their son Adrian was a frequent guest in Kreisau
Steltzer, Theodor (1885–1967): Officer in World War I; member of the Kreisau Circle; in 1940s lieutenant colonel with the Wehrmacht commander in Oslo; in close contact with Helmuth James and the Norwegian resistance movement; sentenced to death on January 15, 1945; execution postponed; survived
Tattenbach, Franz Graf von (1910–1992): Jesuit; maintained contact with Alfred Delp in Tegel prison
Thadden, Elisabeth von (1890–1944): Belonged to the circle led by Johanna Solf; arrested on January 13, 1944; jailed in the Ravensbrück cell block; executed on July 1, 1944
Thiele: Councillor in the Reich Ministry of Justice, who, along with Kurt Schulze, issued Freya permission for a face-to-face visit with Helmuth James
Thierack, Otto Georg (1889–1946): President of the People’s Court (1936–1942); Reich minister of justice beginning in 1942
Trotha, Carl Dietrich von (1907–1952): Cousin and friend of Helmuth James; doctorate in economics; economic expert in the Kreisau Circle; his home was Freya’s base in Berlin during the months of Helmuth James’s incarceration at Tegel
Trotha, Margarete von: “Margrit” (née Bartelt, 1907–1995): Wife of Carl Dietrich von Trotha; doctorate in economics; collaborated on the Kreisau Circle texts
Trotha, Margarete von: “Ete” (née von Moltke, 1879–1946): Mother of Carl Dietrich von Trotha; aunt of Helmuth James; lived in Kreisau Schloss
Trott zu Solz, Adam von (1909–1944): Rhodes scholar at Oxford University; contacts with leading British politicians; as of 1939 close contact with Helmuth James and active member of the Kreisau Circle; in June 1940 began working in the Foreign Office; numerous trips abroad in the interest of resistance work; arrested on July 25, 1944; executed on August 26, 1944
Trott zu Solz, Clarita von (née Tiefenbacher, 1917–2013): Wife of Adam von Trott zu Solz; after July 20, 1944, briefly in Moabit prison with other wives
Truchsess, Dietrich Baron von: “Dietz” (1900–1980): Incarcerated in Tegel prison
Truchsess, Hedwig von: Wife of Dietrich Baron von Truchsess
Uncle Peter: See Moltke, Joachim Peter von
van Heerden, Anna Petronella: “Nan” (1887–1975): First female Afrikaner to become a physician in South Africa; friend of the Rose Innes and Moltke families
Waetjen, Eduard: “Eddy” (1907–1994): Attorney and colleague of Helmuth James; during the war in the Abwehr; member of the Kreisau Circle; mostly in Switzerland; contacts with the American secret service; interlocutor and adept informant for
Helmuth James
Wedemeyer, Maria von (1924–1977): Fiancée of Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Weismann, Arno: Public defender at the People’s Court
Wendland, Asta Maria (née von Moltke, 1915–1993): Sister of Helmuth James; married to Wend Wendland, later to Karl Heinz Henssel; present at Kreisau meetings of the Kreisau Circle
Wendland, Wend (1912–1979): Husband of Helmuth James’s sister, Asta
Wentzel-Teutschenthal, Carl (1875–1944): Farmer; in contact with Carl Friedrich Goerdeler; executed on December 20, 1944
Wickenberg, Dr.: Medical health officer in the Tegel and Lehrter Strasse prisons
Wienken, Heinrich (1883–1961): Auxiliary bishop; head of the commissioner’s office of the Fulda Bishops’ Conference in Berlin
Wild, Frau: “Frau Pastor”: Wife of Hermann Wild, the deceased pastor in Gräditz
Willo: See Moltke, Wilhelm Viggo von
Wirmer, Josef (1901–1944): Attorney in Berlin; in contact with the unionists Max Habermann, Jakob Kaiser, Wilhelm Leuschner, and Carl Friedrich Goerdeler; incarcerated in August 1944 in the Ravensbrück cell block; executed on September 8, 1944
Wurm, Theophil (1868–1953): Regional bishop of Württemberg; in close contact with the members of the Kreisau Circle
Yorck von Wartenburg, Irene Gräfin: “Muto” (1913–1950): Sister of Peter Graf Yorck von Wartenburg; physician; participant in all three Kreisau gatherings of the Kreisau Circle
Yorck von Wartenburg, Marion Gräfin (née Winter, 1904–2007): Doctorate in law; wife of Peter Graf Yorck von Wartenburg; hostess to many meetings of the Kreisau Circle and later to meetings with Claus Graf von Stauffenberg; jailed briefly after July 20, 1944
Yorck von Wartenburg, Peter Graf (1904–1944): Public-service lawyer; as of January 1940 correspondence between him and Helmuth James grew into the Kreisau Circle; related to Claus Graf von Stauffenberg, whom he joined in assassination attempt; arrested on July 20, 1944, on Bendlerstrasse; executed on August 8, 1944
Zeumer, Adolf: Overseer of the estate in Kreisau since 1929; in constant contact with Helmuth James by way of Freya and through correspondence
IMAGE CREDITS
THE FOLLOWING images appear here by permission of their respective rights holders. Best efforts have been made to ascertain the copyright of the drawing of Helmuth James by M. Schneefuß and the aerial view of the New Kreisau / Krzyzowa. All other images are from the collection of the von Moltke family.
Tegel Prison: View from a cell in 1944 (bpk Bildagentur / Art Resource, NY)
Harald and Dorothee Poelchau, 1927 (Harald Poelchau)
Letter from Helmuth to Freya, November 10, 1944 (DLA Marbach)
Letter from Freya to Helmuth, November 11, 1944 (DLA Marbach)
Helmuth’s sketches of his prison cell (DLA Marbach)
Tegel Prison: Cell Block C in 1969 (bpk Bildagentur /Erika Groth-Schmachtenberger / Art Resource, NY)
Helmuth’s sketch of his Christmas table (DLA Marbach)
Drawing of Helmuth James by M. Schneefuß, 1930 (© unknown)
Harald Poelchau, 1949 (ullstein bild / dpa)
Helmuth at the People’s Court and Helmuth conferring with his attorney (bpk Bildagentur / Heinrich Hoffmann / Art Resource, NY)
Aerial view of the New Kreisau / Krzyzowa (© unknown) and the Berghaus today in the New Kreisau / Krzyzowa (Krzyzowa Foundationi)
The courtyard of Tegel prison in 1969 (bpk Bildagentur /Erika Groth-Schmachtenberger / Art Resource, NY)
CONTRIBUTORS
SHELLEY FRISCH, who holds a PhD in German literature from Princeton University, taught at Columbia University and Haverford College, before turning to translation full-time. Her translations from the German, which include biographies of Friedrich Nietzsche, Albert Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci, Marlene Dietrich, Leni Riefenstahl, and Franz Kafka, have been awarded numerous translation prizes. She lives in Princeton, New Jersey.
HELMUTH CASPAR VON MOLTKE is the oldest son of Freya and Helmuth James von Moltke. He grew up in South Africa after 1945, read law at Oxford University, and was called to the bar in England. Working for a German industrial company, he had a thirty-year career in five countries, terminating in the United States. Since retiring he has pursued the success of the Kreisau Foundation for Mutual Understanding in Europe, heading not-for-profit organizations in Germany and the United States. He lives in Vermont and Montreal.
DOROTHEA VON MOLTKE, who received her BA from Yale University and PhD from Columbia University, is a co-owner of Labyrinth Books, in Princeton, New Jersey, for which she also organizes and hosts a popular speakers series. She is the granddaughter of Freya and Helmuth von Moltke.
JOHANNES VON MOLTKE is Professor of German Studies and Film, Television, and Media at the University of Michigan, and the president of the German Studies Association. He has published widely in English and German on German film, theory, and cultural history. He is the grandson of Freya and Helmuth von Moltke.
RACHEL SEIFFERT has published four novels—A Boy in Winter, The Dark Room, Afterwards, and The Walk Home—and a collection of short stories, Field Study. Her novels have been short-listed for the Booker Prize and long-listed three times for the Women’s Prize for Fiction. In 2011, she received the E. M. Forster Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and, in 2018, the Association of Jewish Libraries Honor Book Award.